Steel Wolf

Alderus

The Blood Shadows were seated around a table in one of the many hostels in the city. The lobby was deserted, the inhabitants of the hostel locked in their rooms, scared out of their minds. Fearful that they would be dragged away, kicking and screaming, to be devoured by demons. In just a few hours, the demons would appear.

Just a few hours after that, Tanaya and her death dealers would engage Alderus, the Arch Second of the Hand of Five. As the place was empty, Gaspar played barkeep, drawing mugs of ale for them sip while they planned their attack.

"Scouts report that the troll and brownies exit the Slaughtered Wyvern tavern around midnight," Tanaya explained. "It will take them approximately two hours to fully leave in order to feed. The best guess anyone can come up with is that tunnels run beneath the city. Tunnels like the one Rance and his squad found in Ouranos Village. Serenna said that she played in the tunnel there, and she thought it ran to Washing Hill. If that's the case, a section of it might be the very one beneath our feet."

"It makes perfect sense," said Benton. "They would have laid waste to Ouranos Village, then moved through the tunnel to come here. Once they're done, they move to the next, pop up, raise hell, eat the locals, and on to the next. With an archmage as their leader, they can rip apart the whole eastern region."

"Trolls have a mindset very similar to orcs," spoke Nazaretta. "Once the leader is removed, they have no direction and will scatter. If a clan of trolls is involved, they become hostile to each other and forget about almost everything else."

"So," mused Ekko, "if we get rid of Alderus, they'll have nothing to guide them. When the Regular Military gets here, all that's left to do is clean up the stragglers."

"Alright, Commander," Agrim intoned, "I get all that. The note says that the Slaughtered Wyvern is warded, so Alderus is safe. How are we gonna get past a magical energy shield?"

Jarana fairly bounced in her seat, anxious to answer. Tanaya chuckled, gesturing to the battlemage with her mug.

"Undoubtedly, he's using a ward against offensive magical attacks, as well as thrown and handheld objects. Arrows, swords, daggers, even ballista attacks. That sort of thing. I seriously doubt that he's warded against animals, as most animals are directly controlled by their trainer, and tend to remain in sight of such. Trolls and brownies, being in the same category as demons, are magical creatures. They pose no threat to him, so they can move through the ward with ease. Our armor is magical. Our Shifting abilities make us magical creatures, too. Yes, we pose a threat to him, but the ward should treat us like animals and allow us to walk right through it." She turned to look at Tanaya. "If you'd like, I can run full speed past it and gauge the exact spell he's using."

"You and Thorne go. Unarmored. I don't want someone seeing an armored wolf just yet. If you're not back here in thirty minutes, we'll assume you've been killed."

"Back in a flash, Commander," winked Jarana, shifting as she got out of her chair and bolting for the door, trailed closely by wolf-Thorne.

-o0o-

The streets were devoid of human life. The hulks of burned out buildings lined the streets as roving bands of trolls and brownies prowled, on the lookout for a live body on which to feast. As a small band of the demons moved down the avenue, motionless black-clad wolves watched silently. When the trolls had passed, a black shadow sprinted across the wide street into the gloom on the other side. It was followed by others, moving without a sound.

The Blood Shadows ran pell-mell through the darkness of an alley, growing ever closer to the Slaughtered Wyvern tavern. The alley they were in lay directly across from their destination. The huge blonde wolf, deep blue eyes narrowed with vengeance in mind, stopped and turned to the others. She moved to each in turn, lightly headbutting them all. Each wolf licked the blonde wolf's nose, signaling their readiness. Once inside, there would be no assistance. No one to call for help. It would be a battle to the death.